The White House Releases College Scorecard; Lauds UAlbany as an ‘Engine of Opportunity'

ALBANY, N.Y. (September 16, 2015) -- The University at Albany was cited among high-performing universities in a new online college scorecard published this past weekend by the White House aimed at making it easier for students, parents, and their advisers to make better college choices. UAlbany was selected as an “engine of opportunity” by contributing to mobility into the middle class through offering an affordable education to many low-income students.

The White House's list for "engines of opportunity" includes UAlbany, UC-Irvine, Georgia Regents University, Elizabeth City State University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The University at Albany was cited among high-performing universities in a new online college scorecard published this past weekend by the White House. (Photo Mark Schmidt)

"Being recognized by the White House as an Engine of Opportunity affirms the University at Albany’s long history of providing high quality, affordable higher education to a diverse group of students," said UAlbany President Robert J. Jones. "We’re proud that at least 30 percent of our student body will be the first in their families to earn a four-year degree, evidence that UAlbany opens doors of opportunity to our students and their communities."  

According to the report, "engines of opportunity" measures with equal weight, the earnings and completion rates of low-income students (e.g., Pell Grant recipients) and the net price paid by low- and moderate-income students (those with a family income of $0 to $48,000). Universities ranked in this category also have to serve an above-average share of Pell recipients for the type of school (e.g., above 42 percent of undergraduates for two-year schools or 36 percent for four-year colleges). The metric is meant to recognize only the high-performers, rather than create any incentives for schools to turn away low-income students to influence the measure.  

Based on the "engines of opportunity" measure, public colleges make up nearly nine in 10 of the top- performing four-year institutions, and the remaining are private nonprofit schools. Among the top- performing two-year colleges, more than 60 percent are public, and about one quarter are private for- profit institutions. Many of the highest-performing schools on the metric are large public universities or two-year technical colleges.

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